Friday, September 29, 2006

In the future Virtual Reality may become the future addiction of mankind and it could very well replace drug and alcohol addiction in the human race. How so you ask? Well in the future you would not need a library full of DVD Video Computer Games, as you would only need One; which one you ask? And how can that even be possible with all the selection out there and the many companies competing for the consumers gaming dollar?

Well here is how it would work. Every game would be the same game and all games could be merged. How can this ever come to be? Well consider the Fifth and Sixth Generation of video games or even the Seventh, Eighth and Ninth. Eventually you will have a holographic video game in your living room and you will be one with the game and your living room will be the CAVE.

Additionally, all the games on your xBox will all be the same game and you can move from one to the next. For instance you can be a football player in a foot ball game and then after the game get into your car and race the streets of Los Angeles. Next you can join the Army and be immersed in a war battle video game or you might drive your car at high-speed to the airport and then fly an aircraft there, take off and go to your destination or have an aerial dog-fight. You see now how you will need only one video game?

How is this technology possible? Well it is already here and it is only a matter of some smart entrepreneur putting it all together and teaming up with Microsoft Gaming. What will you call such an incredible VR Virtual Reality System? Well just call it; IT. Because IT can be anything you want it to be, anytime you want to ditch real life for the Virtual World. Can you see why people will become addicted to that? Consider this in 2006.

Speculations about alleged prohibition of second-hand sales of PS3 games and PS3 consoles have circulated in the past months. These rumors were fueled by market reviews about Xbox 360 consoles beating the Blu-ray-optimized Sony consoles in sales come November. Naturally, the company would employ all measures to maximize individual sales of PS3 games and their new consoles. No confirmation nor denial was heard from the Sony camp, but now, the speculations seem true with the technology patent Sony had procured.

Sony patented a technology - probably, a software - that could prevent use of borrowed PS3 games, rented consoles, and resale of game software and digital hardware. This undisclosed technology was patented five years ago in Japan but Sony had remained quiet about it. Queries about proprietorship are now prevalent, reminiscent of the hullabaloo about Digital Rights Management. Whether the electronics giant attempts to change the concept of ownership in the digital arena or not is not yet clear.

Presently, no information has been released about the software and its uses. But there have been scattered rumors that Sony may incorporate the software in the upcoming PS3 games and consoles. There would be time enough for Sony to address this before the games and consoles' release in November. Market analysts have agreed that it is rare for an electronics and technology company to patent new technology without the intention of using it in their new products. If this is true, then the $1 billion- worth industry of used consoles and games is endangered. Social gaming is also at risk because the new technology might prevent game-sharing. This means that gamers can't come over to their friends' houses to share a new game or simply to play together.

Documents filed by Sony describe a process of game system copy protection. According to the papers, game systems would verify the legitimacy of PS3 games and register the codes to a particular console. Other than this, the verification codes would be deleted after registration, making the discs unreadable in other PS3s. The process will effectively prevent resale of the game discs and console exchanges. Sony had kept other plans and details about the technology but Wedbush Morgan industry analyst, Michael Pachter, suspects that the company is toying with the idea of patented games. Pachter also pointed out that the competition from Microsoft might discourage Sony from tightening software security for game discs. The most likely targets of this new technology are internet-based and downloadable PS3 content like music and movies.

Whatever the electronic giant's plans are, the new technology manifests changing ownership trends when it comes to digital content. Even if gamers buy their consoles at $600 or their PS3 games for $100, they do not own it. They cannot reproduce or share it with their friends because Sony is still the ultimate owner of the software. No matter how much they shell out, they are just buying the license to use the software. Sure, the copy protection patent will make it difficult for pirates to manufacture counterfeit software but it does so at the expense of the gamers. Analysts are right not to put patenting software above Sony because the company was once involved in trouble because of this. It can be recalled that downloaded music from Sony has an accompanying software that installs itself automatically in computers to prevent copying and reproducing files. Though Sony later apologized, the software had already inconvenienced thousands of users. Copy protecting PS3 games would put Sony, the PS3, and the gamers at a disadvantage.